Day Two in Dagestan: Hills, Fighters & Hard Work
The second day ç was one of those days that reminded me exactly why I came here.
I woke up around 7 AM and had a simple breakfast: oats, kefir, honey, and walnuts. Enough fuel for what was waiting for us.
At 10, Arsen picked us up. We headed toward Eagles Gym and from there drove to Tarki-Tau for our running session.
No Warm-Up. Just Run.
I’m used to the usual runner routine.
Get out of the car. Warm up. Move around a little. Maybe start with an easy jog.
Not here.
We got out of the car and immediately started running.
Uphill.
The first 2.5 kilometers were a serious climb. Being a runner definitely helped. At some point, experience takes over: you know how to control your breathing, manage the effort, and keep moving even when your legs start asking questions.
But it was still tough.
What made the run even more interesting was the environment around us.
Tarki-Tau is basically an outdoor training ground for Dagestan’s fighters and wrestlers. Everywhere you look, someone is running, wrestling, doing strength work, or preparing for a fight.
Along the route we passed several well-known fighters and wrestlers. I didn’t recognize all of them, but you could tell who they were from the way everyone greeted them as they ran past.
There’s something different about training in a place where this is simply part of everyday life.
No performance.
No posing.
People are just there to work.
From Running Straight Into Strength
Once the running section was over, we reached the outdoor workout bars.
Then the strength session started:
3×10 pull-ups
Moving across the bars
Dips
Squats
Push-ups
Sprints
After finishing the circuit, we did 3 rounds of uphill sprints.
And apparently that still wasn’t enough.
We picked up a large rock and used it as our next piece of training equipment. We rotated it around our heads from both directions and combined that with forward presses.
3×10.
Nothing complicated.
A hill, some bars, a rock and a group of people willing to work.
It was a great session.
Back to Eagles
On the drive home, we picked up Aizkıgıt, a Kyrgyz UFC fighter.
Good guy.
And seriously strong.
Follow him: http://www.instagram.com/aizhigit_erkebai
Aizhigit_erkebai
When we got back, we spent some time at the house and rested. One of the things I’m enjoying most here is not constantly trying to get somewhere.
No meetings.
No rushing.
No looking at the clock every five minutes.
Just training, eating, resting and seeing where the day goes.
Later we went to the old market and did some shopping. I bought a few nice T-shirts and, of course, one of Khabib’s traditional papakha hats.
We also spent some time at Eagles Gym.
I really like the atmosphere there. You can even stay at the gym if you want. Fighters and athletes from completely different countries come together for one very simple reason:
to get better.
Later we went back to pick up Khalid and Alexe.
Alexe is French but lives in Bali. Khalid is Portuguese, and he brought his son with him, who trains Jiu-Jitsu.
Different countries. Different backgrounds. Different lives.
Same reason for being here.
Dinner at Khabib’s Restaurant
In the evening, we went to Papakha, Khabib’s restaurant, for dinner.
I had shashlik, and then my friends surprised me with a birthday cake.
I wasn’t expecting it at all.
I blew out the candles in Dagestan, surrounded by people I had only recently met.
That was a pretty cool moment.
Afterwards they asked me what I wished for and what I thought about life.
My answer was one word:
YOLO.
But not in the sense of partying or doing stupid things because “you only live once.”
Quite the opposite.
You only live once, so have your own goals. Have dreams. Go after the things you genuinely want.
And most importantly:
Your only real opponent is yourself.
Don’t waste your life racing everyone else.
Race the person you were yesterday.
When Is Your Prime Time?
Then Alexe asked me:
“Are you in your prime time now?”
I said no.
“My prime time will be the day I die.”
I thought about the final scene of The Godfather, when Vito Corleone dies in the garden among the orange trees.
For me, that was his prime.
Not because he was physically at his strongest.
But because he had lived his entire story.
That’s how I want to see it too.
I don’t want to look backwards and decide that some younger version of me was my peak.
I want to keep training.
Keep learning.
Keep travelling.
Keep fighting my own battles.
Keep becoming better.
And if I can do that until the very end, then the last day will be my prime time.
Until then, there is still work to do.
It was a good day.
A very good one.
